The expansion Philadelphia Union have gotten off to an understandably slow start thus far in Major League Soccer. But former Cobb FC standout Jack McInerney has looked good in spite of his team’s struggles.

In all four games thus far for the Union, McInerney has come off the bench, but his playing time figures to increase. When the hard-to-please Paul Gardner says you scored the goal of the week, then that’s something to remember, even with his usual curmudgeonliness:

“Actually I found the goal memorable for another reason: because McInerney did not immediately spin off into a wild shirt-doffing celebration or lapse into a dopey dance routine. Thank you, Jack.”

ESPN Soccernet profiles U.S. Under-17 national team and Cobb Soccer Club striker Jack McInerney, whose amazing summer has taken another bright turn. He’s headed to Holland over the weekend for a 12-day tryout with a club he and his mother wouldn’t identify, but that Soccer America claims is Eredivisie side Arnhem Vitesse.

In October, he’ll lead the U-17s into the FIFA Youth World Cup in Nigeria. McInerney, who reported to the U-17 residency program two years ago at 5-foot-6, has grown three inches since then, still small for a forward. But his coach in Bradenton, Wilmer Cabrera, says that in McInerney’s case, size doesn’t matter:

“The great thing about soccer is that you don’t have to be the biggest, fastest or strongest player. Jack is smart and that’s why he finds the goal. He knows what his strengths are, he doesn’t do too much. Jack’s simple and effective, he’s not a showman.”

Alex Newfield of the Gwinnett Soccer Association’s Phoenix Red girls program has been working out with the U.S. Under-20 women’s national team, which is playing its Canadian counterpart in a three-match friendly series this week in Boulder, Colo.

Two local regulars on the U.S. men’s Under-17 national team have been included on the roster for the Copa Macae, a major international youth tournament that begins today in Brazil.

Jack McInerney of Cobb Soccer Club and defender Jordan McCrary of Concorde Fire this spring were in the Under-17 residency program in Bradenton, Fla.